Swell
by Mya Latti
Summary: Phoebe skives off work a lot, but no one really gets past Sidney so there's nothing to do anyway — Phoebe/Wallace friendship. Steven/Wallace.


_I wrote this over a year ago and I think it shows. I might just upload all my old stuff on here, haven't written anything in quite a while!_

* * *

 **Swell.**

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Phoebe ducked under the water one last time before she swam back to the shore, feeling all the stresses she'd had the past few days slowly disappearing until they were tiny little insignificant things that really didn't factor into her life at all and weren't important in the slightest. Feeling the weight suddenly lift off her shoulders, she turned a somersault through the waves and blew bubbles out her nose, letting them rise to the surface. There had been so much paperwork and other things to do recently that she'd had absolutely no time to anything she wanted, today had been the first time in about a week that she'd actually had any fun.

Taking a deep breath once she came back up, she clambered up onto the sand and found a spot to sit on the grass. She sat up for a moment to watch the waves but then decided better of it and lay back to warm up, appreciating the peace and quiet she didn't often get. There were no noisy trainers or obnoxious battle cries, all she could hear was the crashing of the waterfall in the distance and occasionally some wingulls chirping. It was so serene and if it wasn't for the presence of one other person, then there was no doubt she'd fall asleep.

Probably better she didn't though, technically she _was_ working and if she had a challenger, they probably wouldn't be too pleased to find their opponent snoozing.

But speaking of this one other person, she was currently swimming in the bay at the bottom of Ever Grande with Wallace. Just past the waterfall there was this area where the waves weren't too massive and it was safe, apparently not many people knew about it because there was never anyone else there. Why would they anyway? No one actually stopped to explore around the waterfall, all the trainers just wanted to get to the League as quickly as possible. Not that she was complaining, she was more than happy for it to remain quiet - gave her a bit of a break from it all.

Anyway, Wallace had come to visit Steven and that's why he was here. Though unfortunately like herself, he had been snowed under with paperwork (but unlike her, he hadn't finished) that he hadn't been able to spend very long with him, so the two of them had decided to come down here instead. They often did this because _often_ Steven would have lots of work and Wallace wouldn't have anything else to do while he waited for him to finish.

It was funny, before this she had hardly known Wallace. Like, she'd known he was the gym leader of Sootopolis but that had been the extent of their relationship. But about two years ago, she'd gone to ask Steven something in his office and had found Wallace pretty much sprawled across his desk, trying to get Steven's attention while he worked. He'd greeted her politely but hadn't moved from the position and she had left, stupidly not thinking anything of it. But later on she'd been wandering through the foyer of the League building and there he was, tending to his milotic.

He told her Steven had fallen asleep halfway through filling in a form and he'd left to give him some space, but now he was bored. She chatted to him for a while just because she felt bad that he was sitting there all alone, but it turned out they got along well and shared a mutual love of the ocean among other various things. It wasn't surprising, he _was_ a water-type leader after all whereas she'd just grown up surrounded by it.

So yeah, it became a thing after that. Whenever Steven was too busy and she had no challengers, they'd meet up in the same spot to pass the time. It had been going on for a few months when Phoebe struck upon the idea to show him the bay near the waterfall ( _she'd_ actually found it when she'd first joined the League) because she figured he'd probably appreciate it as much as she did. And he did, so now pretty much every time he visited the League that's where they would head. It was good for her because she really did need a break sometimes and well, for Wallace he just needed something to do until Steven got through the unholy amount of work the suits higher-ups gave to him.

But on that note… _ah,_ Steven.

He had been the first person Phoebe had loved. Like, genuinely stuttering, blushing, head over heels, cliched _loved_ \- as cheesy as it sounded. She actually had a name for it too, and that was Steven Stone syndrome (or Steven Stoned if she really felt like piling on the cheese and puns) where whomever had it had fallen for Steven. She knew for certain at least half the female population in Hoenn had it considering him and his father were so prominent in the media and everything, but her case had been a little more severe. Actually, a little more was a lie, it was a _lot_ more severe.

She first met him at a tournament many moons ago, they were both beginner trainers and it was the one and only time she had beaten him. His graciousness at losing had struck her and from then on she had had the biggest crush. After that she had made sure she was at every competition he was (it wasn't stalking _exactly_ ) and looked out for all his television appearances. As he had gotten older, he was even more attractive and somehow more courteous too, which of course had only served to make things worse.

She even followed him to the League. Upon hearing that he had won the Championship title, she had trained harder than ever to become an Elite just so they could work closely together. Okay, it wasn't the _only_ reason, she did love battling and training her pokemon and getting to that for a job was amazing, but he was definitely a factor. Of course she never told him this but played it all off as a funny coincidence.

 _"Oh hey, you're here too! I had no idea you were even the Champion, this is crazy! But do you need any help with your paperwork? I could stay back and help if you wanted, then maybe we could go get some dinner afterwards since it's late."_

Yeah, he was totally none the wiser.

So you can imagine her disappointment when she realised that he was spoken for and by a _dude_ too. Apparently he'd already been with Wallace for a year when she found out and she wondered why she hadn't known, she knew everything else about him. At first she had been annoyed - annoyed that because now there was no way she'd ever get to be with him - but that had lasted about five minutes because it wasn't that he didn't _like_ her, he just couldn't. There was no point in getting all hung up on something that would never happen.

After that, she had actually started getting to know him instead of just admiring him from afar (or close up, which was how she preferred to do it) and talking to him properly. If she couldn't be with him, she might as well just be friends with the guy she had loved for so long.

"Phoebe, what are you doing out the water?" Wallace's voice interrupted her musings, bringing her back to reality. She pushed herself up, shielding her eyes from the glare with one hand. "It's so nice in here!"

"I'm working on my tan," She yelled back. It was starting to get pretty warm out here though, maybe she should go back in the water. Her mind was soon made up for her when Wallace started heading towards the shore and she watched him swim in and climb up onto the grass with more grace than any male should have. He stood in front of her, shaking the droplets out of his hair and she took in all six feet of him in awe. He was so tall and lanky, she felt like a little kid in comparison. "What's your excuse?"

"Well you see," He took a seat next to her, folding his legs up so they were crossed. "Even though you're tanned enough, I can't leave you here all by yourself, can I?"

"I don't know, can you?"

"I guess not since I'm here," He shrugged. "Whatever though, anything beats working."

"You've got that right," Phoebe lay back on the grass, yawning as she did so. "Talk to me, Wallace, otherwise I have no doubts I'll fall asleep."

He was twirling his hair around his finger as she spoke and when she finished, he looked over and shook his head. "I'll probably make it worse, my glorious and soothing voice will lull you to sleep like the waves of the ocean on a calm day."

She cracked an eye open. "Do you really strive to model yourself off the ocean in every way possible?"

"I'm surprised you even need to ask that," He laughed softly. "The ocean is the definition of beauty and grace, why wouldn't I want to imitate it?"

"That's true and you do do a pretty good job," She yawned again, her head lolling to the side. She had to do something about this sleepiness pronto, Wallace had been so kind to come and join her, it would be rude to pass out. Now at this point she decided to ask a question in hopes that conversation would stop the impending slumber - it is to be noted though that later on she would pass the asking off as being half-asleep and not thinking straight, but in actuality when she said it, she had thought about it completely. "Tell me what it's like to kiss Steven," The surprise on his face was priceless, even in her drowsy state. "And please don't compare it to the sea."

"Phoebe!" Her question had obviously disarmed him, but for what reason she couldn't work out. It wasn't that inappropriate, right? The initial surprise seemed to have worn off now though and while still put off, he seemed to be considering an answer. His expressions during this thought process ranged from thoughtful to smug and she watched him curiously. He was such a weirdo, never before had she met anyone that was even the slightest bit like him.

But hey, a weirdo in the best kind of way. Says the girl who'd just admitted to stalking, cough cough.

The consideration took a while, but eventually (with a very neutral face) he said, "I don't know how comfortable he would be with me discussing it."

Man, what a weak reply.

" _Fine_ ," She drew out the end of the word. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but honestly Wallace, we've talked about things ten times worse than this." She sat up so she could pinch his cheek and grinned. It wasn't a big deal, she had really only asked so she wouldn't fall asleep and it had worked so far.

For the second time, he started to consider how to answer that. It didn't take nearly as long though, and he leaned in close so their foreheads were touching and she could smell the salt from the sea water that was still glistening on his skin. "Oh _I_ have no problems with it, so just between you and me….it's s _well._ "

It took Phoebe a moment to understand what he had said, but when she did it hit her like a tonne of bricks and it took every inch of her willpower to not fall back onto the grass in a fit of laughter. With much difficulty, she crossed her arms over her chest and tried to keep herself looking serious (though the corners of her mouth kept twitching up, threatening to smile and give it away). "I thought you weren't going to compare it with the sea!"

He saw right through her faux-frustration though and waved it off with his elegant hand. "I never agreed to that, my dear," He winked and Phoebe huffed, he was infurtiatingly good at doing whatever he wanted and getting away with it. Then he said just as smoothly - as if making puns was second nature to him - as before, "Anyway, I'm not looking for your _seel_ of approval on my wordplay."

"I don't know, it sort of seems like you're _fishing_ for compliments with this," She knew her answer was lame, but every other oceanic pun she could think of didn't fit in with the conversation. Well, fit in less than that one did at least, because that one really didn't make that much sense. "You know if we don't stop here, we'll just keep going with this until it just becomes ridiculous."

"You make a point, but I think you're just admitting defeat. Which is fair enough, I got you hook, line and sinker."

She gave him a deadpan look of _'yeah right'_ even though she knew that he was right, that first one had been really well timed but she'd never tell him. She was too proud to do that, an aspect that was both good and bad. Good because it landed her one of the top jobs in the region, bad because well, she didn't often know when to quit. Like with Steven, that was a pretty big example of determination, wasn't it?

So she stood up, placed her hands on her hips and stood over him in an attempt to be intimidating. She supposed it worked because in an instant he was up too, making a break for the water and running till it got too deep and he had to dive under. She watched him for a second - giving him a head start - before following suit and chasing him into the water.

She wasn't sure what she was going to do if she caught up to him, but it would probably be to just jump on his back or something while he wasn't looking. He was a faster swimmer but she was more determined, she really didn't like losing to him. "You can't run forever, Wallace! I'll catch up to you sooner or later!"

Turned out to be not at all, five minutes into the chase she heard a voice shouting in the distance. She couldn't hear who it was but no one ever came here, so it was really unusual and she stopped almost immediately. Wallace had slowed down too and they both looked around to try and find the source.

Both the voice and the person came into focus half a minute later in the form of their mutual object of affection. A very grumpy Steven Stone was standing barefoot on the sand, shoes discarded and arms crossed over his suit jacket and altogether looking very out of place. "Phoebe, you have two challengers waiting. Wallace, you don't get paid to swim, I'm sure you have paperwork to do."

Fuck.

She clambered up onto the sand, threw her clothes on and made a break for it back towards the League. She was going to be in _so_ much trouble for slacking off, especially if she lost as well. In her mad hurry though, she still managed to turn around for a second and grin at Wallace. As much trouble as she was going to get in, he was going to be in _so much shit._

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 _I'm so sorry hahaha. I didn't know how to end it._


End file.
